Escapement mechanisms for articles to be discharged from a magazine along a chute

ABSTRACT

An escapement mechanism for discharging articles in succession from a chute and comprising a finger for arresting the leading article and a biased restraining member which moves into position between the leading article and the next article and accelerates discharge of the leading article upon movement of the finger to an inoperative position.

United States Patent [72] Inventor George Paul Barker Woodthorpe. England [21] Appl. No. 836.100

[22] Filed June 24, 1969 [45] Patented July 27,1971

[73] Assignee Charles Churchill Limited Nottingham, England [32] Priority June 26,1968

[33] Great Britain [54] ESCAPEMENT MECHANISMS FOR ARTICLES TO BE DISCHARGED FROM A MAGAZINE ALONG A CIIUTE 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl. 221/301, 221/289 [51] lnt.Cl. B65h 3/30 [50] Field of Search 221/289, 290, 293. 298. 301, 292

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 676,761 6/1901 Morris.. 221/301 X 1,157,743 10/1915 White.... 221/301 X 2,591,285 4/1952 Overly 221/293 X 3.105.610 10/1963 Aidlin et a1. 221/298 X Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. King Assistant ExaminerJohn J. Love Attorney-Watson, Cole, Grindle & Watson ABSTRACT: An escapement mechanism for discharging articles in succession from a chute and comprising a finger for arresting the leading article and a biased restraining member which moves into position between the leading article and the next article and accelerates discharge of the leading article upon movement of the finger to an inoperative position.

AIENTEU M27 :97:

SHEET 1 BF 2 ESCAPEMENT MECHANISMS FOR ARTICLES TO BE DISCHARGED FROM A MAGAZINE ALONG A CIIU'I'E This invention is concerned with an escapement mechanism for effecting successive discharge of articles from a procession on a chute. It is particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with sequential discharge of screws to an automatic screwdriver.

The escapement mechanism comprises a finger movable into an operative position in which it arrests the leading article in the procession, a retaining member resiliently biased for movement into a position between the leading and the next article. restraining means which normally maintains the finger in its operative position and restrains the retaining member against movement into said position, and means for periodically shifting said restraining means to permit the retaining member to move under its bias to said position and thereafter to shift the finger from its operative position and permit of accelerated discharge of the leading article under the action of the bias on the retaining member.

The finger and the retaining member may be mounted on pivoted arms coupled by a tension spring and the restraining means may be a link having lost motion connection with the arms. Thus the link may have slots engaged by studs on the arms.

One embodiment of escapement mechanism according to the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a side elevation of the mechanism,

FIG. 2 is a section on the line II-II in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a section on the line III-III in FIG. 1,

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views similar to FIG. 3 and showing successive stages in the operation of the mechanism, and

FIG. 6 is a detail view.

The mechanism illustrated serves to permit of successive discharge of a procession of screws 10 from a chute constituted by a pair of rails 11. As shown the heads of the screws 10 rest on the rails 11 and their shanks extend downwardly between the rails. Due to the downward inclination of the rails the heads of the screws 10 are maintained in abutment with one another and the leading screw is normally restrained against advance by a finger 12 which is secured by a screw 13 to an arm 14 pivoted by a pin 15 to a bridge piece 16 fixed to the chute. The position of the finger 12 in relation to the arm 14 may be adjusted by shifting the screw 13 along a slot 17 in the arm.

A second arm 18, formed on its undersurface with a wedge 19, is pivoted by a pin 20 to the bridge piece 16. A tension spring 21 is connected at its ends by screws 22 to the arms 14 and I8 and another tension spring 23 extends between the bridge piece 16 and a slotted link 24. A stud 25 on the arm 14 extends upwardly into a slot 26 in the link 24 and a stud 27 on the arm 18 extends upwardly into a slot 28 in the link 24. Initially the springs 21, 23 maintain the parts in the position shown in FIG. 3, with the studs 25 and 27 at the upper ends (as seen in FIG. 3) of their respective slots 26, 28, the arm 14 abutting against a pin 29 fixed to the chute and the finger l2 arresting the leading screw 10. The wedge 19 is prevented from moving towards the screws 10 by abutment of the stud 27 with the upper end of the slot 28.

The link 24 carries a ball-headed screw 30 which engages one end ofa link 31 (FIG. 2) connected at its other end by a ball joint 32 to one arm of a bellcrank 33 mounted on a fixed pivot 34. The other am of the bellcrank' 33 carries a cam follower which cooperates with a cam (not shown).

The cam operates in timed relationship with an automatic screwdriver, to which the screws 10 are delivered in succession by the escapement mechanism, to rock the bellcrank anticlockwise as seen in FIG. 2 to shift the link 24 to the right as seen in FIG. 2 and upwardly as seen in FIG. 3 against the action of the spring 23. During the initial stage of the upward movement of the link 24 to the position of FIG. 4 in which the stud 25 has engaged the lower end of the slot 26, no movement IS imparted to the arm 14 or the finger 12 but the spring 21 rocks the arm 18 anticlockwise to move the wedge 19 inwardly to bring its tip into position between the leading screw 10 and the following screw, further inward movement of the wedge being prevented at this stage by its abutment with the screws. Continued upward movement of the link 24 lifts the stud 25 and causes the arm 14 to move anticlockwise to shift the finger 12 clear of the leading screw 10 to free the latter, whereupon the spring 21 imparts further anticlockwise movement to the arm 18 causing the wedge 19 to impart a forward flick to the leading screw as it is discharged and to move into a position, shown most clearly in FIG. 6, in which it bears against a fixed pin 36 and positively arrests the next screw.

When the cam permits return movement of the bellcrank 33 the spring 23 imparts downward movement to the link 24 as seen in FIG. 5 first to enable the spring 21 to return the finger 12 to its initial position and thereafter to shift the wedge 19 back to its initial position shown in FIG. 3, allowing the remaining screws to slide down the chute until the leading remaining screw is arrested by the finger 12.

As will be readily understood, the escapement mechanism according to the invention can also be used to control the discharge of other articles, such for example as nuts, rivets or bottle tops.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An escapement mechanism for effecting successive discharge of articles disposed in a procession on a chute and comprising a finger movable into an operative position in which it arrests the leading article in the procession, a retaining member resiliently biased for movement into a retaining position between the leading and the next article, restraining means which normally maintains the finger in its operative position and restrains the retaining member against movement into said retaining position, and means for periodically shifting said restraining means to a first position in which it permits the retaining member to move under its bias to said retaining position with said finger remaining in its operative position and onwards to a second position in which said finger is shifted from its operative position to enable the retaining member to move beyond said retaining position to effect accelerated discharge of the leading article under the action of the bias on the retaining member.

2. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the finger and the retaining member is mounted on pivoted arms coupled by a tension spring and the restraining means is a link having lost motion connection with the arms.

3. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 2, in which the link has slots engaged by studs on the arms.

4. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 2, in which the link is spring biased to its restraining position and which includes cam operated mechanism for periodically shifting the link from its restraining position to permit of discharge of the leading article.

5. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 1 in which the retaining member is a wedge. 

1. An escapement mechanism for effecting successive discharge of articles disposed in a procession on a chute and comprising a finger movable into an operative position in which it arrests the leading article in the procession, a retaining member resiliently biased for movement into a retaining position between the leading and the next article, restraining means which normally maintains the finger in its operative position and restrains the retaining member against movement into said retaining position, and means for periodically shifting said restraining means to a first position in which it permits the retaining member to move under its bias to said retaining position with said finger remaining in its operative position and onwards to a second position in which said finger is shifted from its operative position to enable the retaining member to move beyond said retaining position to effect accelerated discharge of the leading article under the action of the bias on the retaining member.
 2. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the finger and the retaining member is mounted on pivoted arms coupled by a tension spring and the restraining means is a link having lost motion connection with the arms.
 3. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 2, in which the link has slots engaged by studs on the arms.
 4. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 2, in which the link is spring biased to its restraining position and which includes cam operated mechanism for periodically shifting the link from its restraining position to permit of discharge Of the leading article.
 5. An escapement mechanism as claimed in claim 1 in which the retaining member is a wedge. 